About the job

Job summary

The Government People Group exists to work with departments, professions, and functions to build a modern, effective Civil Service.

We support the government workforce with the right skills and capability. We are working with leaders to get the right people in the right jobs, with the right skills and continuous learning to excel in their roles.

We provide leadership, and in turn, create leaders with exceptional line management capability across departments, influencing partners in the wider public sector and beyond. This involves getting our retention and reward strategy right, to nurture specific skills, and create pride and resilience in our workforce.

Our role is also to provide system leadership across central government in pulling together back-office services. Collectively, we help support the Cabinet Office’s priority to drive efficiencies, and reforms that will make government work better, to ultimately provide a better service to the public.

GPG delivers services for over 400,000 civil servants across government. It supports 1.5 million Civil Service and Royal Mail pension scheme members, and provides recruitment services for around 70 percent of the Civil Service.

The Corporate Services team is central to the smooth running of the Government People Group and delivering the organisation's strategic objectives. Composed of the Private Office, Communications, Portfolio Management, and Business Management teams, the Corporate Services team provides direct support to the Executive Team and sets the tone for engagement with our key stakeholders.

Job description

The Parliamentary Business and Secretariat Lead sits within the Portfolio Management and Governance Team in GPG Corporate Services. This exciting and critical role involves working across GPG and the wider Cabinet Office to ensure that we deliver effectively according to our Parliamentary responsibilities. It offers an unrivalled insight into the important work we do and we support key workstreams and priorities across Government. In addition to providing leadership for the Unit, a large part of this role will involve working effectively through others, to ensure high standards are achieved and that Parliamentary Business is prioritised effectively across our busy Business Unit.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the GPG Parliamentary Unit - provide direction, build capability, and drive effective ways of working across the team.
• Ensure GPG meets its parliamentary obligations effectively, in the form of Parliamentary Questions, Correspondence, Freedom of Information requests, Select Committees etc. and that corresponding processes and expectations are met.
• Make connections across the system, ensuring priorities and risks are identified and accounted for.
• Provide informed and appropriate advice to GPG colleagues and senior leaders, ensuring that Parliamentary business remains high on their agenda.
• Own and maintain the relationship between GPG and the Central Parliamentary Team in Cabinet Office, to instil clarity around what is / isn’t within GPG’s remit to deliver  in this space.
• Establish, develop and maintain effective processes, to ensure the Unit performs and delivers efficiently and effectively.
• Lead the internal coordination of the regular and highly important Cabinet Office Oral Parliament Process on behalf of GPG, ensuring all deadlines are met.
• Work with relevant policy leads across to further develop key related products, such as the GPG ‘lines to take’ document and GPG Day One Ministerial Pack.
• Work with the Government Chief People Officer’s Private Office to support her appearances at relevant Select Committees.
• Regularly report to GPG Executive Committee (ExCo) on our business unit performance in this space, ensuring this is accurately reflected back to the central Cabinet Office team for assurance purposes.  
• Build Parliamentary capability across the Unit and wider GPG, as appropriate, e.g. through lunch and learns.
• Providing secretarial support for senior-level management and governance boards.

Person specification

Suitable for an individual with :

• Extensive experience of Parliamentary Business, i.e. Parliamentary Questions, Correspondence, Freedom of Information requests, Select Committees, and corresponding processes and expectations.
• Strong team leadership and line management skills.
• Experience of acting as secretariat for senior-level boards.
• Ability to thrive in a complex system, with the ability to connect the dots between key work priorities.
• A tenacious approach to service delivery, with the ability to deliver often competing priorities at pace. 
• Excellent drafting skills and high attention to detail.
• Keen interest and focus on continuous improvement.

Desirable 

• Familiarity with Private Office ways of working.
• Awareness of the policy making process.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £53,400, Cabinet Office contributes £14,418 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Application process

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and Personal Statement. You will also be required to provide a 250-word statement on four Behaviours.  Further details about what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Your Personal Statement (no more than 750 words) should explain how you consider your personal skills, qualities, and experience providing evidence of your suitability for this role.

Please make particular reference to the key responsibilities, attributes, and experience outlined in the Person Specification.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be undertaken using the CV. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Selection process

At the interview, you will be assessed against four Behaviours and two Strengths.

The Behaviours to be assessed are listed in this advert and you will be asked questions to understand whether you have the Strengths relevant to this role.

Expected timeline (subject to change)

Expected sift date – TBC
Expected interview date/s – TBC
Interview location - Online

Reasonable adjustments

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Government Recruitment Service via cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional. 

Further information

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'contact point for applicants' section.

Please note that this role requires CTC clearance, which would normally need 3 years’ UK residency in the past 3 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter 

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to Cabinet Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service /Disclosure Scotland on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.